Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Q19 A1: Whether there is will in God?

Yes. There is will in God as there is intellect because will follows upon intellect.

In every intellectual being there is will, just as in every sensible being there is animal appetite.

And so there must be will in God, since there is intellect in Him.

And as His intellect is His own existence, so is His will.

Will in us belongs to the appetitive part, which, although named from appetite, has not for its only act the seeking what it does not possess, but also the loving and the delighting in what it does possess. In this respect will is said to be in God, as having always good which is its object, since His will is not distinct from His essence.

Although nothing apart from God is His end, yet He Himself is the end with respect to all things made by Him. And this by His essence, for by His essence He is good (Q6, A3): for the end has the aspect of good.